Thursday, November 4, 2010

10 Years

Ten years ago today was a huge day in our lives. It was the day Paul and I entered the Salt Lake Temple as best friends and exited as eternal husband and wife. It was awesome.

I was a bit "old" compared to LDS standards when we got married (26). I had already served a mission, graduated from college and embarked on my career. Hilary and I had moved up to Seattle because it sounded cool. Really -- that's why we moved there. After locating an apartment, we called the stake president to ask about the local singles' ward. He informed us it started at 1:30 p.m. Much to our embarrassment, he was wrong about the time and it actually started at 1 p.m., so we walked in 30 minutes late. What a way to make a first impression! (Good thing I wasn't worried about that at the time.)

So, after sacrament meeting we started talking to a guy to find out how to get our records transferred there. Turns out he had the forms in his pocket ... and his name was Paul. I noticed his beautiful eyelashes right away, but I definitely was NOT interested.

Paul and I became pretty fast friends. He was a geek who could put geeky things into English for me, which helped a lot with my job doing high-tech PR. Hilary and I used him for his cable so we could watch BYU football. (I think this was much to his delight.) I found out he had a crush on a certain girl and tried for months to set him up with her. (That backfired a little bit. :)

In Nov/Dec we played the joke of the century (as we call it) on our branch president. "Operation Snuggle" was a ploy to get him thinking a bunch of us were dating. We even took fake engagement pics for a collage for him (which, by the way, still hangs on his office wall to this day -- ours is below). I'll definitely have to tell about that one day -- it was awesome. When he found out it was a joke, he said he said he wouldn't believe that Paul and I really weren't a couple. Funny thing is we weren't ... until four months later. :)

Fast forward five months and Paul took me up to Snoqualmie Falls to propose. It was beautiful. I had no idea getting engaged would be such a spiritual, exciting experience ... and here it was happening to me. I had dreamed of this experience happening, and yet somehow when it did happen it was still better than I could have imagined.

Two months later we were flying down to SLC to get married in the Salt Lake Temple. We had many family and friends to help us celebrate, which made it an even better day. I hear it was cold that day, but somehow I didn't notice. :)

We jumped right into life as a married couple -- less than a year later Tyler was born and I had cut my hours at work to be home more. Paul had his first "real" job. Now 10 years later we have five children (!!!!), are on our second home, have me staying home full time with the kiddos while Paul supports us, and are happy as clams can be. (And because of the saying, I'm assuming clams can be pretty happy!) Okay, that might have seemed like rambling to you, but it was a fun trip down memory lane for me. :)

We were able to celebrate our 10th Anniversary last month with a little getaway. We had no kids, no worries, and not a lot of plans. And we loved it!

Today will be a day just like most others -- he'll be at work, and I'll be doing routine mom things: Teaching pre-school, going to a Relief Society meeting, making dinner, doing laundry, etc. And yet in the back of my mind it will be an awesome day because of the memories of the past 10 years. It's flown by and been forever at the same time. Thanks, Paul, for making this "lifetime" so wonderful ... and for making the last part of my former lifetime (singledom) so much fun. :) I hope it's a great day at work!

(I think we look pretty much the same, but I guess now that you have pics you can decide for yourself. :)

I forgot to mention that when we did give out wedding invitations, our branch president was THRILLED when we put in the fake engagement picture from Operation Snuggle instead of the real engagement picture. :) Funny, funny man!

About Us

Brown Inc. was formed in 2000 with the merger of Paul Brown and Denise Palmer. Its first product, Tyler, was released in 2001. Second product Zachary was released in 2003. Product Becca Brown, which was released in 1994 by a sister company, was acquired in 2005 by Brown Inc. and made a permanent part of the company in 2009. Shayla was Brown Inc.’s third internally developed product in 2006. Fifth product Austin was released in 2010. Brown Inc., which specializes in adorable children, is based in Utah.